Muddy42

Hot fire or not, every stove manual ever written will tell you not to burn wet wood. A neighbour of mine managed to totally block his new cowl and flue in one season, requiring replacement at some cost. Chimney fires can destroy your flue liner, chimney pot etc or even worse case burn your house down. Its simply not worth gambling here!

Gabriel, You'd be amazed but yes my Esse stove smokes back into the room when lighting, refilling or when the stove is dying down. I have tried every trick in the book over three years, but its not really helped. Its an old drafty house with a cold flue and flue downdraft problems. Older non ecodesign stoves have massive air intakes and quickly send masses of heat up the chimney and continue to send lots of heat up the chimney (so called "inefficiency") so that this is never an issue. Defra, Hetas and european test standards have designed Ecodesign for a more "efficient" burn, better air quality but a lower flue temperature. But this only works in perfect lab conditions or a modern house that is warm anyway. Its a great business for stove installers with the need for more scafolding, insulation beads and anti downdraft cowls. But I also think the stove design doesn't help. It doesn't have enough potential air intake and the airwash and door are too close to the top of the stove. Its far too easy for smoke to spill out during lighting. I'm going to replace the stove soon.

I had the same problem with my one handed Makita DUC150 chainsaw. As above, I have sharpened the teeth until the gap to the rakers about 50% of how it started, about 10 thousandths now.

Air should come through the carb outlet pipe. If you think about it that's what the purge bulb does, suck fuel from the carb so it gets replaced with fresh fuel. You should not be able to blow back into the carb through the outlet valve. Are you 100% sure the fuel pump side of the carb is oriented correctly (valves next to the metal of the carb then gasket) and that the metering diaphram is not upside down? Is the needle valve seating properly?

I've always thought one of these would be fun. You light a fire under a stone floor, once going the smoke and heat travels through a system of tunnels under the floor to a chimney on the far side. You can have one burn in the morning and the house stays warm all day. Its a more efficient version of the roman Hypocaust, still in use and called a gloria in Spain.

thanks. Just to be clear on the liner, it sounds like you just have a short section of metal liner poked up the chimney and then its original clay liner thereafter to the top? Is that right? A friend has a stove like that and Ive helped them clean it. It wasn't very dirty. Its old school, and no doubt the safety police will jump up and down but seems to work ok. That's my issue with modern stoves. The old ones were simple fires in a box that would cope with a wide range of flue drafts and conditions. Lots or air in/outflow would overcome any cold air in the flue very quickly. Modern ecodesign stoves need the conditions of the flue to be just right - lined the whole way to the top, flue insulation, potentially an anti-downdraft cowl to correct for the stoves inadequacies at £300+VAT. Its all great for the stove installing industry! James at Clearview has written extensively on this topic and performed some side-by-side tests: ECO DESIGN ISSUES AND FEEDBACK | Clearview Stoves WWW.CLEARVIEWSTOVES.COM

it does look good. The problem with my Esse1 is the door and air wash are too close to the top of the stove, causing it to smoke when first lit. Part of the new ecodesign nonesense. Whats the point of a stove that makes the outside air cleaner but causes indoor air pollution? i’ll probably replace it when the right second hand 5 inch flue stove comes up.

As above are you sure the primer is connected the right way? Its short line from (normally the top of the) carb, long line returning to the fuel tank. The fuel line goes from the fuel tank to the bottom of the carb. If the lines are clear, you should see where the bubbles start from? Are you sure the carb was assembled in the correct way? If any of the diaphragms ripped, it could benefit from a carb kit. You can pressure test a carb, but do it gently to avoid breaking stuff. You don't need a pressure tester for this, if you blow with your mouth on the fuel line you get an idea if the pressure is dropping.

Chainsaw? I only use that for storm clearance. The majority of my firewood gets stored as lengths then in June every I process it with a hired grab and a 12 tonne splitter with conveyor belt. I burn the splitter offcuts and sawdust myself. The only manual handling is carrying it to the stove from the grain sack. I cant think of anything worse than briquettes - packaged, expensive, unnatural and un cosy.

I'm from a different end of the country, but I'd try local sawmills, firewood suppliers or timber haulage companies. Scope out anywhere where trees are being felled, sometimes they will have a half load or some types of poorer grade timber that the sawmill doesn't want. If the wood is green, technically it needs to be delivered with a statutory notice on how to store and dry it.

The ceramic tile stove sounds amazing! I'm afraid I cant think of anything worse than wood briquettes- all that processing, packaging and the cost. I'm very luck to have the space and time to enjoy making firewood. This is a great read: Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way

Some people disagree with this, but personally I like a combination of outdoor and indoor seasoning. The weathering (rain, sun and wind) effect is always stronger outside. Then you bring it inside for the final few months. By the time is ready, I can barely tell what species it is.

A worn sprocket can cause symptoms like this.

Scottish land ownership is pretty murky. Its much harder to work out who owns land, there are a lots of murky community ownership tenures around, the owners can hide bheind companys, trusts or nominees and far more of it is not on a modern map-based registration system. Are worried about trees falling on houses or roads? I think you have a two options. - Pay a solicitor that specialises in land ownership to work out who the owner is. - pay for a tree survey to give to the council or discuss with your house insurers

OK. ffs the price has gone up in the past two years. this is what I have and I would recommend it. Mityvac Silverline Vac/Pres Metal Pump Kit MV8500 646541004116 | eBay UK WWW.EBAY.CO.UK All images shown are for illustration purpose only. Silverline Vac/Pres Metal Pump Kit. just make sure you get one that does vacuum as well as pressure. Mityvac do a similar pressure only tester that I bought by accident first time round.

I have a mityvac which costs about £80. Yes these testers have a huge range of uses aside from p&v in two and four strokes. I prefer a separate gauge for compression testing. Also bleeding brakes, finding leaks, draining fluids, draining old engine oil, unblocking central heating oil pipes - just some of the uses I have put mine too

OK, as above my guess is the trigger sensor. But, I still don't think you can rule out an air leak until you have p&v tested the fuel lines, carb and cylinder. My understanding is that autotune can mask problems and compensate the fuel mix so the saw doesn't blow up as quickly as old saws did. Also I find spraying carb cleaner at a saw doesn't always reveal problems. You could roll the dice and DIY replace the sensor at £40 if the alternative was the labour of a repair person.

Maybe obvious, but try running the saw briefly with the top cover off. You might be able to see if one of the throttle parts isn't working.

I got fed up after both a Husqvarna and an Oregon one failed and leaked. I now just use an 5L aspen can filled with pump fuel and a 5L oregon chain oil can. Both pour really well without a funnel if you keep them at about 3/4 full. But I'm normally never far from a vehicle.

Good plan. Replacing seals is pretty advanced and easy to cock up (I know!) One of the few DIY repairs I outsource.

I think this stove has two air controls: 1. primary air control. This lets in lots of air through the front. Use this is to get the stove lit and not for extended burning. 2. Airwash. This lets in less air in a strip across the door. This flows downwards and keeps the glass door clean and then cycles through the fire. If the primary control wont close, yes this will disrupt the airwash and the door will get dirty. But also thats not safe as the stove could overheat. query with the installer.

It claims to be 52cc, but who knows. By all means buy this object if you like gambling with your money and are prepared to throw it away after a few uses. Not personally. Bosch used to make good stuff in the 90s, gone downhill since.

Genuinely, I wouldn't accept any of the tools you have listed if you gave them to me free. Its all un-branded rubbish that will end us as landfill. As to the wattage of the strimmers, neither is powerful enough. You need a 45cc machine which is over 2,000 watts. I can't find this question anywhere. Try your local facebook jobs page.

You have had more than enough good advice here. Ring up your local hire place and ask for a strimmer/brushcutter/clearing saw with an engine more than 45cc in size and with a metal blade, ideally mulching blade, but others will work. I wouldn't waste your money buying non-branded two stroke machinery, generally they dont last.

Nothing about cutting brambles is pleasant. I find if you go at them too aggressively with the brushcutter, they get tangled round the shaft. I like using an up/down motion to slowly pulverize them. Also reversing a flail mower into bramble bushes seems to work quite well!